Elizabeth Nunez
The NJCEA 2010 Conference keynote speaker is Elizabeth Nunez. Her talk is titled “What We Read and Teach: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?”
Dr. Nunez is an internationally known scholar of Caribbean literature and an award-winning novelist. She emigrated from Trinidad to the United States after she completed high school.
Dr. Nunez is a Distinguished Professor, Hunter College, CUNY and served as provost at Medgar Evers College, the City University of New York.
She is the award-winning author of six novels
: Prospero's Daughter (New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and 2006 Florida Center for the Literary Arts One Book, One Community selection at the Miami Book Fair); Grace; Discretion (short-listed for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award); Bruised Hibiscus (American Book Award); Beyond the Limbo Silence (Independent Publishers Book Award); and When Rocks Dance.
She is also co-editor with Jennifer Sparrow of the anthology Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad, co-editor with Brenda Greene of the collection of essays, Black Writers in the 90's, and author of several monographs of literary criticism.
As co-founder of the National Black Writers Conference, and director from 1986-2000, Nunez received grant awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as grants from The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Reed Foundation for these conferences.
She continues her work in support of writers of color with her radio program on WBAI 99.5FM and as chair of the PEN American Open Book committee.
She is executive producer of the 2004 NY Emmy-nominated CUNY TV series Black Writers in America.
Dr. Nunez is an internationally known scholar of Caribbean literature and an award-winning novelist. She emigrated from Trinidad to the United States after she completed high school.
Dr. Nunez is a Distinguished Professor, Hunter College, CUNY and served as provost at Medgar Evers College, the City University of New York.
She is the award-winning author of six novels
: Prospero's Daughter (New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and 2006 Florida Center for the Literary Arts One Book, One Community selection at the Miami Book Fair); Grace; Discretion (short-listed for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award); Bruised Hibiscus (American Book Award); Beyond the Limbo Silence (Independent Publishers Book Award); and When Rocks Dance. She is also co-editor with Jennifer Sparrow of the anthology Stories from Blue Latitudes: Caribbean Women Writers at Home and Abroad, co-editor with Brenda Greene of the collection of essays, Black Writers in the 90's, and author of several monographs of literary criticism.
As co-founder of the National Black Writers Conference, and director from 1986-2000, Nunez received grant awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, as well as grants from The Nathan Cummings Foundation and the Reed Foundation for these conferences.
She continues her work in support of writers of color with her radio program on WBAI 99.5FM and as chair of the PEN American Open Book committee.
She is executive producer of the 2004 NY Emmy-nominated CUNY TV series Black Writers in America.